


An Impromptu Collegial Collaboration

by Politzania



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/M, First Date, Secret Identity, Teacher AU, Young!Tony, young!Pepper
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:14:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22571602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Politzania/pseuds/Politzania
Summary: Taking a detour from her planned career to teach at a school for disadvantaged youth, Virginia “Pepper” Potts discovers a potential for romance.Tony Stark Bingo: Teacher AU
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Comments: 24
Kudos: 76
Collections: Tony Stark Bingo 2020





	An Impromptu Collegial Collaboration

**Author's Note:**

  * For [feyrelay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/feyrelay/gifts).



> Title: An Impromptu Collegial Collaboration  
> Collaborator Name: PoliZ (fic) and FeyRelay (moodboard)  
> Card Number: 3012  
> Square Filled: S2 - Teacher AU  
> Ship/Main Pairing: Pepperony (Tony/Pepper)  
> Rating: General  
> Major Tags: Teacher AU, secret identity, young!Tony, young!Pepper, first date  
> Summary: Taking a detour from her planned career to teach at a school for disadvantaged youth, Virginia “Pepper” Potts discovers a potential for romance.

Pepper Potts (Virginia to her co-workers) signed her final report card then closed her grade book with a sigh. She wanted to give all her students A’s, she really did. Most of them were doing the best they could and she was happy to skew the results in their favor whenever possible. But numbers didn’t lie, and she should know, since she was a math teacher. 

At least for now, that is. Heaven knows she certainly couldn’t have imagined a year ago that she would be sitting in a dingy middle school classroom in Queens, teaching math and basic life skills to disadvantaged youth. Pepper had been halfway through her second-to-last semester at Columbia Business School, on the dean’s list once again and well on her way to graduating summa cum laude. She was pursuing multiple internships for her spring semester on both coasts, with Stark Enterprises being a strong contender. 

But then her father -- who’d dubbed her ‘Pepper’ as a child, probably due to her temper tantrums -- was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer and her life went on hold. They lost him right after Christmas, but she was thankful they had been able to spend his last days together. Her professors were incredibly understanding, and she made up the work on her incompletes while taking on a part-time internship in the spring. 

Dad had always pushed her to do something good in the world “Do what you can with what you have, where you are” was one of his favorite sayings. So after graduation, Pepper signed up for an ‘education boot camp’ where after an intense set of classes that spanned the entire summer, she qualified for a probationary teaching license. Now here she was, doing her best to make math interesting and relevant to a group of kids who had much more important things going on in their lives. 

She was roused from her reverie by a knock on the door jamb. “Why, Miss Potts, what are you still doing here?” It was Antonio Carbonell, a fellow boot camp attendee who taught science and computer programming. He’d earned a reputation as a shameless flirt and Pepper still wasn’t quite sure what to think of him. 

He was quite handsome; in fact, several people in their boot camp sessions had commented on how much Antonio looked like Tony Stark. But while the former boy genius turned playboy was clean shaven, their fellow classmate sported a European-style mustache and goatee, which suited him quite nicely. Besides, no one had heard a thing about Stark for months; rumor had it he’d been forced into rehab by the de-facto head of Stark Enterprises, Obadiah Stane. 

Antonio was also funny and smart, and had taken to teaching like a duck to water, despite claiming he had very little experience other than a few TA positions during his own college career. Pepper wasn’t looking for anything like romance in her life, but even she had to admit that Antonio was a very qualified candidate. 

“I could ask the same of you, Mister Carbonell,” Pepper replied; Antonio usually left the building the moment school was dismissed and rarely attended the follow-up sessions that she and the other local boot-camp graduates held to talk about their experiences and learn from one another. 

“Had to give Thompson detention again, the little shit,” Antonio frowned. Pepper nodded in sympathy; Eugene was a difficult child who dealt with his problems by making everyone else miserable. 

“Well, I was just finishing up my grading.” Pepper stood, stretching her back as she did. She noted with dismay that the sun had already set; she hadn’t intended to stay at the school this late, as she preferred not to take public transportation after dark. 

“It’s a thankless, never-ending task, isn’t it?” Antonio commiserated, then added with a mischievous grin. “You could just do like me and flunk everybody.”

Pepper rolled her eyes. “You don’t flunk everyone. I heard Peter and Ned crowing about how they’d actually gotten an A on one of your tests the other day. And surely M.J.’s doing alright?” 

“She’d be acing the class if she turned in her homework,” Antonio shook his head in frustration. 

“I had the same issue with her. She and I finally made a deal. She comes in during her lunch period every Friday and we run through a dozen sample problems. M.J. hates having to show her work; but if she can explain to me how she gets there, she gets the marks.” 

Antonio raised his eyebrows admiringly. “Huh — what a great idea! I’ll see if she wants to do the same with me on another day. At least it would get her out of the lunchroom some more.” 

“What do you mean?” Pepper had wondered why M.J. had been so willing to give up a chunk of free time when the idea had been proposed. 

“I’m pretty sure she’s getting bullied,” Antonio replied with a frown. “I recognize some of the signs.” 

“Oh.” A few puzzle pieces suddenly clicked into place, and a protective instinct welled up in Pepper. “I wish she’d said something.” 

“She won’t,” Antonio said flatly. “It would only make things worse to get a teacher involved. Trust me. But I’ve got a couple of ideas that might help her out.” He paused for a moment. “However, that’s not the reason I stopped by. I have an idea for an interdisciplinary project I want to run by you. How about we grab a little something to eat, and then I give you a ride home?” 

The question caught Pepper by surprise. Her first instinct was to refuse; she really didn’t know Antonio that well, and didn’t care for the idea of owing him a favor. That said, the thought of riding home on the bus and then walking to her apartment after dark put her a little on edge. “Are you asking me out?” 

He tilted his head to one side. “I suppose that depends on you. I know I have a bit of a reputation, flirting with any and everyone of legal age and yes, even sweet-talking my lab equipment. That said, you can simply think of it as an impromptu collegial collaboration. No strings attached. Promise.”

Pepper realized she was overreacting a bit. Despite his provocative tendencies, Antonio had always behaved like a gentleman and backed off the minute someone expressed any discomfort. Besides, the cross-classroom project idea he wanted to share with her piqued her curiosity. 

“Okay. Let me grab my things and we can head out.” 

They ended up at a greasy spoon diner where Antonio ordered a cheeseburger and the largest serving of fries she’d ever seen. She opted for a BLT with extra-crispy bacon and cole slaw. 

As they worked on the hot fudge malt Antonio insisted on splitting with her, she finally asked, “So what’s that collaboration idea you have in mind.” 

“Spy school.” 

“Excuse me?” 

“Spy school. Teach the kids all about what it takes to become a spy. I figure we can hit history and English pretty hard with stories about spies and their missions. And science is a gimme with all the cool gadgets. They’ll love it!

“What about math?” 

“Codes and ciphers,” he answered promptly. “My original thought was vectors for snipers, but that seemed a bit too bloodthirsty.” 

“And perhaps a shade too advanced for our students.” 

Antonio shook his head. “Nah - you’d be surprised what kids can learn when you don’t tell them how hard it’s supposed to be. I already got Barnes and Carter onboard. Rogers is even gonna do a talk on the Monuments Men in a couple of his art classes.” 

Pepper found Antonio’s enthusiasm to be infectious. She’d dabbled a bit in ciphers when she was about her students’ age and while it was a bit of a stretch to see how to tie it into her core curriculum, she was willing to give it a try. 

“Have you run the idea by Fury yet?” 

“I did an elevator pitch, but he insisted that I have at least four other teachers onboard before he’d take me seriously.” Antonio reached out to cover her hands with his. “Help me, Virginia. You’re my only hope.”

Despite the cheesy Star Wars reference, Pepper saw how much this meant to Antonio. She turned her hands over to take hold of his, noting the calluses and scars and grease under his nails. She wondered what he did outside of the classroom, to have such well-worn hands 

“Okay. I’m in. But if we’re going to be throwing pop culture references around, Virginia’s the Catholic girl in that old Billy Joel song. My friends call me ‘Pepper’. 

“No stained glass curtains for you, hmm?” He grinned and tilted his head appraisingly. “I have a feeling that nickname fits you incredibly well. As for me — I’d much prefer to go by ‘Tony’.”


End file.
